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英文原文
In this chapter we have, I. An introduction, or preface, making way for, and leading to, what is principally designed by the apostle, 2Pe 1:1-4. II. An exhortation to advance and improve in all Christian graces, 2Pe 1:5-7. III. To enforce this exhortation, and engage them seriously and heartily to comply with it, he adds, 1. A representation of the very great advantage which will thereby accrue to them, 2Pe 1:8-11. 2. A promise of the best assistance the apostle was able to give to facilitate and forward this good work, 2Pe 1:12-15. 3. A declaration of the certain truth and divine origin of the gospel of Christ, in the grace whereof they were exhorted to increase and persevere.
1-4
The Felicity of the Church (67 AD)
教会的福气（公元67年）
¹ 作耶稣基督仆人和使徒的西门彼得，写信给那因我们的神和救主耶稣基督之义，与我们同得一样宝贵信心的人：
² 愿恩惠、平安因你们认识神和我们主耶稣，多多地加给你们；
³ 神的神能已将一切关乎生命和敬虔的事赐给我们，皆因我们认识那用自己荣耀和美德召我们的主；
⁴ 因此，他已将又宝贵又极大的应许赐给我们，叫我们既脱离世上从情欲来的败坏，就得与神的性情有分。
使徒彼得既被圣灵感动，要再次写信给那些从犹太人中归信基督的人，便以一段引言开始这第二封书信；其中所描述的人物和所求的福分，与前一封信的序言相同，但在这引言的三个部分中，都有一些增添或改动值得留意。
一、我们在此看到对写信者的描述，他既用「西门」又用「彼得」为名，既用「仆人」又用「使徒」为衔。「彼得」在两封书信中都有，似乎是他最常用的名字，也可认为是他最喜欢的，因为是我们的主在他认「耶稣是基督、是永生神的儿子」时赐给他的，这名字本身的意义和印记，正是那当为根基的条文——一切人都必须建立在其上的磐石；但「西门」这名字虽在前一封信中被省略，在此却被提及，免得完全省略他受割礼时所得的名，会使热心律法的犹太信徒对使徒产生嫉妒，以为他弃绝并藐视割礼。他在此自称是「耶稣基督的仆人」（也是使徒）；这一点他可以引以为荣，正如大卫所说（诗116:16）。事奉基督是通往最高尊荣的道路（约12:26）。基督自己是「万王之王、万主之主」；他使他一切仆人作「国民……作祭司归于神」（启1:6）。作这位主的仆人是何等大的尊荣！这是我们若不以之为耻便为有罪的事。以作「基督的仆人」为夸口，对那些正劝勉别人进入或坚守基督事奉的人，十分合宜。
二、我们得知受信人。他们在前一封信中被描述为「照父神的先见被拣选」，此处则被描述为「与我们同得……宝贵信心……在我们主耶稣基督里」；因为此处所说的信心，与异端者的假信、假冒为善者的伪信、以及只重仪文之宣认者（无论其正統如何）无果的信心大不相同。它是「神选民的信心」（多1:1），是在有效呼召中由神的灵所造成的。请留意：1. 真正使人得救的信心是宝贵的恩典，这不仅因为它十分罕见稀少——即便在有形教会中也是如此，一大群只在外表宣认的人中真信徒极少（太22:14）——更因为真信心十分卓越，对其拥有者大有用处、大有好处。「义人必因信得活」——真正属神属灵的生命；信心取得这卓越生命一切必需的扶持和安慰；信心到基督那里，买酒和奶（赛55:1）——那是新造之人的正合宜的滋养；信心买回并带回家「火炼的金子」——那使人富足的天上财宝；信心取来并穿上「白衣」——那遮盖并装饰的君王袍服（启3:18）。请留意：2. 信心在平信徒和使徒身上同样宝贵；它在两者身上产生同样宝贵的效果。信心使软弱的信徒与基督联合，正如使刚强的一样真实；信心洁净一个人的心，正如洁净另一个一样真实；每一个真诚的信徒都因信在神眼中称义，并脱离一切罪（徒13:39）。无论信心在谁身上，都抓住同一位「宝贵」的救主，并应用同样宝贵的应许。3. 这宝贵的信心是从神得着的。信心是神的恩赐，由那使耶稣基督从死里复活的灵所造成。4. 信心的宝贵，正如我们得着它，都是藉着基督的义。基督那满足功劳的义和顺服，使信心有其一切价值和宝贵：而这样一位的义，对那些因信接受它的人而言，不能不是无限宝贵的。因为：（1）这位耶稣基督是神，是的，「我们的」神，正如原文所载。他是真神，是无限的存有，作成了这义，因此这义必是无限宝贵的。（2）「他是那信……之人的救主」，他既是如此，便献上了这功劳性的顺服；因此这对他们大有利益和益处，因为作为保人和救主，他是代替他们作成这义。
三、我们有使徒的祝福，其中他盼望神圣的恩宠在他们中间倍增、增长，恩典之工在他们里面长进、发展，并盼望与神的平安和在良心里的平安（无「恩典」便不能有）在他们中间丰盛。这与前一封信的祝福完全相同；但此处他加上：
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一项说明，论到「恩惠、平安……多多加给」的途径和方法——乃是「因认识神和我们主耶稣」而来；这承认或信靠「独一又真又活的神，和他所差来的耶稣基督」，是属灵生命的大长进，否则它便不能是通向永生的途径（约17:3）。
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使徒祈求的根据，以及基督徒盼望恩典加增的根据。我们已经领受的，当鼓励我们求更多；那已开始恩典之工的，必成全它。请留意：（1）一切属灵福分的源头，是耶稣基督的神能——他若不同时是神又是人，便不能尽中保的一切职分。（2）一切与真正的属灵生命——敬虔的生命和能力——有关、对其有影响的事，都来自耶稣基督；「一切的丰盛都有形有体地居住在他里面」，我们是从他领受，「恩上加恩」（约1:16）——就是为保守、改进、成全恩典和平安所需的一切；按一些诠释者的说法，这些在此彼后1:3被称为「敬虔和生命」。（3）对神的认识和信靠，是一切属灵扶持和安慰传达给我们的渠道；但我们必须认神为我们有效呼召的创始者，因为他正是如此被描述：「那用自己荣耀和美德召我们的」。此处请留意：神呼召或使人归信的目的，是要领他们进入「荣耀和美德」——有人理解为即「平安和恩典」；但许多人更取旁注的译法「以荣耀和美德」；如此，有效呼召被显为神之荣耀和美德、或说「荣耀之能力」（弗1:19所描述）的作为。罪人归信正是神能力的荣耀；这是在他的圣所中所看见、所经历的神的能力和荣耀（诗63:2）；这能力或美德当被一切「那召出黑暗入奇妙光明者」（彼前2:9）所颂赞。（4）在彼后1:4，使徒进而鼓励他们的信心和盼望，使他们期待恩典和平安的加增，因为赐下福音应许所运用和显明的，正是与在我们有效呼召中所运用相同的荣耀和美德。请留意：[1.] 应许所让渡的善物极其伟大。赦罪是此处所指的福分之一；凡对神忿怒之能力略有认识的人，都必承认这是何等大的事，而这是那些所应许的恩惠之一，在赐下它时「主的能力为大」（民14:17）。赦免众多且重大的罪——每一样都当受神忿怒咒诅、且永远如此——是奇妙的事，并如此被称为（诗119:18）。[2.] 福音所应许的福分十分宝贵；正如旧约的大应许是「女人的后裔」——弥赛亚（来11:39），新约的大应许是「圣灵」（路24:49），而那使人活、使人明、使人成圣的灵，岂不宝贵吗！[3.] 那些接受福音应许的人「与神的性情有分」。他们「在自己心思的灵里得以更新，照着神的形象，在知识、公义和圣洁上」更新；他们的心专为神和他的事奉而设；他们有神圣的心灵和属灵的性情；律法虽是「属死的执事」，「字句叫人死」，福音却是「生命的执事」，圣灵「使人活」——使那本来「死在过犯罪恶之中」的人活过来。[4.] 那些圣灵在其心中造成神性情的人，得以脱离败坏的奴役。那些因恩典之灵「在自己心思的灵里得以更新」的人，被迁入「神儿女的自由」之中；因为「败坏」正是在世界中「作王」。那些「不是出于父，而是出于世界」的人，是在罪的权下；世界卧在恶者手下（约一5:19）。罪在世人身上所得的管辖，是藉着私欲；他们的欲望倾向它，因此它统治他们。罪在我们身上所得的管辖，是照着我们对它的喜悦。
英文原文
The Felicity of the Church (67 AD)
¹ Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
² Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
³ According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
⁴ Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
The apostle Peter, being moved by the Holy Ghost to write once more to those who from among the Jews were turned to faith in Christ, begins this second epistle with an introduction, wherein the same persons are described and the same blessings are desired that are in the preface to his former letter; but there are some additions or alterations which ought to be taken notice of, in all the three parts of the introduction.
I. We have here a description of the person who wrote the epistle, by the name of Simon, as well as Peter, and by the title of servant, as well as that of apostle. Peter, being in both epistles, seems to be the name most frequently used, and with which he may be thought to be best pleased, it being given him by our Lord, upon his confessing Jesus to be Christ the Son of the living God, and the very name signifying and sealing that truth to be the fundamental article, the rock on which all must build; but the name Simon, though omitted in the former epistle, is mentioned in this, lest the total omission of that name, which was given him when he was circumcised, should make the Jewish believers, who were all zealous of the law, to become jealous of the apostle, as if he disclaimed and despised circumcision. He here styles himself a servant (as well as an apostle) of Jesus Christ; in this he may be allowed to glory, as David does, Ps 116:16. The service of Christ is the way to the highest honour, Joh 12:26. Christ himself is King of kings, and Lord of lords; and he makes all his servants kings and priests unto God, Re 1:6. How great an honour is it to be the servants of this Master! This is what we cannot, without sin, be ashamed of. To triumph in being Christ's servant is very proper for those who are engaging others to enter into or abide in the service of Christ.
II. We have an account of the people to whom the epistle is written. They are described in the former epistle as elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, and here as having obtained precious faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; for the faith here mentioned is vastly different from the false faith of the heretic, and the feigned faith of the hypocrite, and the fruitless faith of the formal professor, how orthodox soever he is. It is the faith of God's elect (Tit 1:1), wrought by the Spirit of God in effectual calling. Observe, 1. True saving faith is a precious grace, and that not only as it is very uncommon, very scarce, even in the visible church, a very small number of true believers among a great multitude of visible professors (Mt 22:14), but true faith is very excellent and of very great use and advantage to those who have it. The just lives by faith, a truly divine spiritual life; faith procures all the necessary supports and comforts of this excellent life; faith goes to Christ, and buys the wine and milk (Isa 55:1) which are the proper nourishment of the new creature; faith buys and brings home the tried gold, the heavenly treasure that enriches; faith takes and puts on the white raiment, the royal robes that clothe and adorn, Re 3:18. Observe, 2. Faith is alike precious in the private Christian and in the apostle; it produces the same precious effects in the one and in the other. Faith unites the weak believer to Christ as really as it does the strong one, and purifies the heart of one as truly as of another; and every sincere believer is by his faith justified in the sight of God, and that from all sins, Ac 13:39. Faith, in whomsoever it exists, takes hold of the same precious Saviour, and applies the same precious promises. 3. This precious faith is obtained of God. Faith is the gift of God, wrought by the Spirit, who raised up Jesus Christ from the dead. 4. The preciousness of faith, as well as our obtaining it, is through the righteousness of Christ. The satisfactory meritorious righteousness and obedience of Christ gives faith all its value and preciousness: and the righteousness of such a person cannot but be of infinite value to those who by faith receive it. For, (1.) This Jesus Christ is God, yea, our God, as it is in the original. He is truly God, an infinite Being, who has wrought out this righteousness, and therefore it must be of infinite value. (2.) He is the Saviour of those that believe, and as such he yielded this meritorious obedience; and therefore it is of such great benefit and advantage to them, because, as surety and Saviour, he wrought out this righteousness in their stead.
III. We have the apostolical benediction, wherein he wishes for the multiplication and increase of the divine favour to them, and the advancement and growth of the work of grace in them, and that peace with God and in their own consciences (which cannot be without grace) may abound in them. This is the very same benediction that is in the former epistle; but here he adds,
1. An account of the way and means whereby grace and peace are multiplied—it is through the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ; this acknowledging or believing in the only living and true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, is the great improvement of spiritual life, or it could not be the way to life eternal, Joh 17:3.
2. The ground of the apostle's faith in asking, and of the Christian's hope in expecting, the increase of grace. What we have already received should encourage us to ask for more; he who has begun the work of grace will perfect it. Observe, (1.) The fountain of all spiritual blessings is the divine power of Jesus Christ, who could not discharge all the office of Mediator, unless he was God as well as man. (2.) All things that have any relation to, and influence upon, the true spiritual life, the life and power of godliness, are from Jesus Christ; in him all fulness dwells, and it is from him that we receive, and grace for grace (Joh 1:16), even all that is necessary for the preserving, improving, and perfecting of grace and peace, which, according to some expositors, are called here in 2Pe 1:3 godliness and life. (3.) Knowledge of God, and faith in him, are the channel whereby all spiritual supports and comforts are conveyed to us; but then we must own and acknowledge God as the author of our effectual calling, for so he is here described: Him that hath called us to glory and virtue. Observe here, The design of God in calling or converting men is to bring them to glory and virtue, that is, peace and grace, as some understand it; but many prefer the marginal rendering, by glory and virtue; and so we have effectual calling set forth as the work of the glory and virtue, or the glorious power, of God, which is described Eph 1:19. It is the glory of God's power to convert sinners; this is the power and glory of God which are seen and experienced in his sanctuary (Ps 63:2); this power or virtue is to be extolled by all that are called out of darkness into marvellous light, 1Pe 2:9. (4.) In the 2Pe 1:4 the apostle goes on to encourage their faith and hope in looking for an increase of grace and peace, because the same glory and virtue are employed and evidenced in giving the promises of the gospel that are exercised in our effectual calling. Observe, [1.] The good things which the promises make over are exceedingly great. Pardon of sin is one of the blessings here intended; how great this is all who know any thing of the power of God's anger will readily confess, and this is one of those promised favours in bestowing whereof the power of the Lord is great, Nu 14:17. To pardon sins that are numerous and heinous (every one of which deserves God's wrath and curse, and that for ever) is a wonderful thing, and is so called, Ps 119:18. [2.] The promised blessings of the gospel are very precious; as the great promise of the Old Testament was the Seed of the woman, the Messiah (Heb 11:39), so the great promise of the New Testament is the Holy Ghost (Lu 24:49), and how precious must the enlivening, enlightening, sanctifying Spirit be! [3.] Those who receive the promises of the gospel partake of the divine nature. They are renewed in the spirit of their mind, after the image of God, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness; their hearts are set for God and his service; they have a divine temper and disposition of soul; though the law is the ministration of death, and the letter killeth, yet the gospel is the ministration of life, and the Spirit quickeneth those who are naturally dead in trespasses and sins. [4.] Those in whom the Spirit works the divine nature are freed from the bondage of corruption. Those who are, by the Spirit of grace, renewed in the spirit of their mind, are translated into the liberty of the children of God; for it is the world in which corruption reigns. Those who are not of the Father, but of the world, are under the power of sin; the world lies in wickedness, 1Jo 5:19. And the dominion that sin has in the men of the world is through lust; their desires are to it, and therefore it rules over them. The dominion that sin has over us is according to the delight we have in it.
5-11
Spiritual Diligence; Advancement in Holiness (67 AD)
属灵的殷勤；在圣洁上长进（公元67年）
⁵ 正因这缘故，你们要分外地殷勤；有了信心，又要加上德行；有了德行，又要加上知识；
⁶ 有了知识，又要加上节制；有了节制，又要加上忍耐；有了忍耐，又要加上敬虔；
⁷ 有了敬虔，又要加上爱弟兄的心；有了爱弟兄的心，又要加上爱众人的心。
⁸ 你们若充充足足地有这几样，就使你们在认识我们的主耶稣基督上，不至于闲懒不结果子了。
⁹ 人若没有这几样，就是眼瞎，只看见近处的，忘了他旧日的罪已经得了洁净。
¹⁰ 所以弟兄们，应当更加殷勤，使你们所蒙的恩召和拣选坚定不移；你们若行这几样，就永不失脚；
¹¹ 这样，必叫你们丰丰富富地得以进入我们主救主耶稣基督永远的国。
在这些话中，使徒来到本书信的主要目的——激发并促使他们在恩典和圣洁上长进，因他们已经得着宝贵的信心，并有分于神的性情。这是极好的开端，却不可以此为足，仿佛我们已经完全了。使徒曾祷告恩惠和平安能多多加给他们，如今他劝他们竭力前进，为要得着更多的恩典。我们应当趁有机会，劝勉我们为之祷告的人，并激发他们使用一切正当途径，来得着我们盼望神赐给他们的；那些要在宗教上有任何进步的人，必须在其努力上十分殷勤勤奋。不「分外殷勤」，便不能在圣洁之工上有任何进展；那些在宗教之事上懒惰的人，必一事无成；我们若要「进窄门」，就必须「努力」（路13:24）。
一、我们在此不能不留意，信徒的道路是如何一步一步被标明的。1. 他当得着「德行」，有人将此理解为「公义」；如此其后所跟的「知识、节制和忍耐」既与之相连，便可认为使徒在劝勉他们追求那四枢德——即构成一切美德或德行的四种要素。但「这话是可信的，并要确实地坚持：那些有信心的当留心行善」（多3:8），因此此处的「德行」我们可理解为「力量」和「勇气」，没有它们，信徒便不能在善事上丰盛卓越地坚持。义人当勇如狮子（箴28:1）；一个胆怯的基督徒，不敢宣认福音的教义、不敢行福音的本分，必可预期基督在他日要以他为耻。「不要在患难之日丧胆，倒要在抵挡一切反对、抵挡每一个仇敌——世界、肉体、魔鬼，甚至死亡——的事上显出勇敢。」我们活着就需要德行，到死时它也必大有妙用。2. 信徒当在德行之上加上「知识」，在勇气之上加上谨慎；有一种对神名的认识，必须先于我们的信心（诗9:10），我们若不知道神的旨意，便不能赞成那善良、可喜悦、纯全的旨意；但本分有合宜的时机，必须被知道并被遵守；我们当使用所定的途径，把握所悦纳的时候。基督徒的谨慎顾及我们所交往的人，以及我们所处的地点和同伴。每一个信徒都当努力得着有益于指引的知识和智慧——既关于一切基督徒本分当行的正当方法和次序，也关于行它们的方式。3. 我们当在知识之上加上「节制」。我们当对今生的美好事物怀着节制和中正的爱慕与使用；我们若对属外的安慰有正确的了解和认识，便必看见它们的价值和功用远不及属灵的怜悯。身体的操练和身体的特权益处甚少，因此当照此估量和使用；福音既教导诚实，也教导节制（多2:12）。我们当在渴慕和使用天然生活之美好事物——如饮食、衣服、睡眠、娱乐、名声——上节制；对这些的过度渴慕，与对神和基督恳切的渴慕不相称；那些取用这些过于当有的人，不能对神或对人尽当尽的本分。4. 在节制之上当加上「忍耐」，它必须「成全其工」，否则我们不能「成全完备，毫无缺欠」（雅1:4），因为我们生来便有患难，必须经过许多艰难才能进入神的国；正是这「患难」（罗5:3）生忍耐——即要求这恩典的操练、并使它加增——我们藉此以沉默顺服忍受一切灾祸和十架，不向神发怨言、不抱怨他，倒是称义那将一切苦难加在我们身上的，承认我们的受苦不及我们的罪所当受的，并信它们不超过我们自己所需。5. 在忍耐之上我们当加上「敬虔」，这正是忍耐所生发的，因为忍耐生老练（罗5:4）。基督徒忍耐地忍受苦难时，便得着「天父慈爱」的经历性认识——「他必不将他的慈爱从他们身上夺去，即使他用杖责罚他们的罪孽，用鞭责罚他们的过犯」（诗89:32、33），并由此被带到如孩子般的敬畏和尊重的爱中——这正是真敬虔所在：在此之上，6. 我们当加上「爱弟兄的心」，就是对一切同道基督徒的柔嫩情意——他们是同一父的儿女、同一主的仆人、同一家中的成员、同往一国度的客旅、同一产业的后嗣，因此当用清洁的心恳切地爱他们——以喜悦之爱，如同那些在我们眼中特别亲近、特别珍爱、我们特别以之为乐的人（诗16:3）。7. 「爱众人的心」，即对一切人的善意之爱，当加在我们对神儿女的喜悦之爱之上。神「从一本造出万族」，一切人的儿女都有分于同一的人性，都同样能得同样的怜悯，也同样易遭同样的苦难；因此，基督徒虽在属灵上因在基督里而被分别、被尊荣超过那些不在基督里的人，却当同情别人在苦难中的遭遇，救济他们的需要，并照机会促进他们身体和灵魂的福祉：如此，一切在基督里的信徒都当显明自己是神的儿女——神善待一切的人，更特特善待以色列人。
二、上述一切恩典都必须拥有，否则我们便不能「完全装备，行各样的善事」——既为第一块和第二块法版的本分，也为主动和被动的顺服，并为那些我们要效法神的事奉、以及那些我们只当顺服他的事奉——因此为使我们殷勤不懈地追求它们，使徒阐明了一切成功努力、使这些事在他们身上「有」而「充足」之人的益处（彼后1:8-11）。这些益处被提出：
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较一般地说（彼后1:8）。「有这几样」就使你们「不至于闲懒不结果子」——此处按圣灵的文体，我们当理解所含远多于所表达的；因为论到犹大诸王中最卑鄙、最惹神怒的亚哈斯，说他「在耶和华眼中不行正事」（王下16:2）时，我们当理解为如同说：他行了最冒犯最可憎的事，正如其后关于他一生的记载所表明；如此，此处说一切基督徒恩典在我们身上「有」且「充足」就使我们不至于闲懒也不结果子，我们由此当理解为：它要使我们在一切实践的基督教上十分热心活泼、刚强积极，并在义行上卓越多结果子。这些要使神大得荣耀——在人中间多结果子，在认识我们主耶稣基督上结果子，承认他是「主」，并以丰盛行他所赐给他们作的工，证明自己是他的仆人。这是一项恩典加在另一项之上的必然后果；因为一切基督徒恩典既在心中，便彼此改进、加强、鼓励、呵护；因此它们都兴旺成长（正如使徒在彼后1:8开头所暗示），无论哪里恩典丰盛，那里就有善行的丰盛。使徒在彼后1:9表明，处在如此境况是何等可慕。在那里他指出没有这些苏醒结果之恩典的人是何等可怜；因为那没有上述恩典、或虽有似乎有却不操练不改进的人，是「眼瞎」的——即关于属灵属天之事，正如接下去的话所解释：「只看见近处的」。「这现今邪恶的世界」他能看见，并沉溺其中，对将来的世界却毫无辨识，以至不受其属灵特权和天上福分的影响。看见基督教卓越的人，必会殷勤努力追求那为「得着荣耀、尊贵、不朽」所绝对必需的一切恩典；但这些恩典若未得着也未追求，人便不能前瞻其实在只有一点点路远的事——尽管按外貌或他们的 领受，那些事距离很远，因为他们把它们推得离自己很远；那些对另一世界那可畏大事如此眼瞎、看不见神所要赐给义人之荣耀赏赐的真实、确实、伟大与临近，以及他所要加在不敬虔之人身上的可怕刑罚的人，其境况何等悲惨！但这还不是那些不「在信心之上加上德行、知识」等之人一切的不幸。他们向后看与向前看一样不能——他们的记忆易漏，不能持守已过之事，正如他们的目光短浅，不能辨识将来之事；他们忘了自己已受洗，已得着方法，已担负了心和生活圣洁的本分。我们受洗便投身于对罪的圣战，并庄重地被约束与肉体、世界、魔鬼争战。当常常回想、并认真默想你那作主之人的庄重承诺，并你那放下「一切肉体和心灵上的污秽」的独特优势和鼓励。
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使徒提出两个具体的益处，将随基督徒之工中的殷勤而来：在恩典中坚固，并凯旋地进入荣耀。他以重提他先前的劝勉、并以别的话陈述而引入这些；因为在彼后1:5以「分外殷勤……在信心之上加上德行」等所表达的，在彼后1:10以「分外殷勤，使……所蒙的恩召和拣选坚定不移」来表达。此处我们可留意：（1）信徒的本分是「使自己的拣选坚定不移」——向自己澄清自己是神所拣选的。（2）使永远的拣选确定的方法，是弄清自己的有效呼召：无人能窥看神永远旨意和谕旨的书卷；但「预先所定下的人，神也召他们来」，我们若能发现自己已有效蒙召，便可断定自己已蒙拣选得救。（3）使我们的呼召和拣选确定，需要大量的殷勤和劳苦；我们必须对自己作极严密的省察，作极狭义的搜寻和严格的查问——我们是否彻底归信、心思得蒙光照、意志得蒙更新、全人灵魂的倾向和 趋向 是否已被改变；要在其上达到确定的把握，需要最大的殷勤，且若无神圣扶助便不能获得并保持（诗139:23；罗8:16）。「但无论劳苦多大，都不要以为难，因为你们由此所得的益处极大；因为，」[1.] 「你们将因此得以不跌倒——在一切时候和季节都不跌倒，甚至在将要临到地上的试探之时也不跌倒。」当别人陷入重罪可耻的罪中时，如此殷勤的人将能谨慎而行、并在本分之道上继续；当许多人陷入错谬时，他们将蒙保守在真道上坚定，并在神一切旨意上站立得完全完备。[2.] 那些在宗教之工上殷勤的人，将凯旋地进入荣耀；那少数进天堂的人中，有的是「仅仅得救」（彼前4:18），带着许多艰难，「如同从火中经过」（林前3:15），而那些「在恩典中长进」、「在主的工作上丰盛」的人，将「丰丰富富进入主的喜乐」——就是基督作王的那永远国度，他们要「与他一同作王，直到永永远远」。
英文原文
Spiritual Diligence; Advancement in Holiness (67 AD)
⁵ And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
⁶ And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
⁷ And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
⁸ For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
⁹ But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
¹⁰ Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
¹¹ For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
In these words the apostle comes to the chief thing intended in this epistle—to excite and engage them to advance in grace and holiness, they having already obtained precious faith, and been made partakers of the divine nature. This is a very good beginning, but it is not to be rested in, as if we were already perfect. The apostle had prayed that grace and peace might be multiplied to them, and now he exhorts them to press forward for the obtaining of more grace. We should, as we have opportunity, exhort those we pray for, and excite them to the use of all proper means to obtain what we desire God to bestow upon them; and those who will make any progress in religion must be very diligent and industrious in their endeavours. Without giving all diligence, there is no gaining any ground in the work of holiness; those who are slothful in the business of religion will make nothing of it; we must strive if we will enter in at the strait gate, Lu 13:24.
I. Here we cannot but observe how the believer's way is marked out step by step. 1. He must get virtue, by which some understand justice; and then the knowledge, temperance, and patience that follow, being joined with it, the apostle may be supposed to put them upon pressing after the four cardinal virtues, or the four elements that go to the making up of every virtue or virtuous action. But seeing it is a faithful saying, and constantly to be asserted, that those who have faith be careful to maintain good works (Tit 3:8), by virtue here we may understand strength and courage, without which the believer cannot stand up for good works, by abounding and excelling in them. The righteous must be bold as a lion (Pr 28:1); a cowardly Christian, who is afraid to profess the doctrines or practise the duties of the gospel, must expect that Christ will be ashamed of him another day. "Let not your hearts fail you in the evil day, but show yourselves valiant in standing against all opposition, and resisting every enemy, world, flesh, devil, yea, and death too." We have need of virtue while we live, and it will be of excellent use when we come to die. 2. The believer must add knowledge to his virtue, prudence to his courage; there is a knowledge of God's name which must go before our faith (Ps 9:10), and we cannot approve of the good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God, till we know it; but there are proper circumstances for duty, which must be known and observed; we must use the appointed means, and observe the accepted time. Christian prudence regards the persons we have to do with and the place and company we are in. Every believer must labour after the knowledge and wisdom that are profitable to direct, both as to the proper method and order wherein all Christian duties are to be performed and as to the way and manner of performing them. 3. We must add temperance to our knowledge. We must be sober and moderate in our love to, and use of, the good things of this life; and, if we have a right understanding and knowledge of outward comforts, we shall see that their worth and usefulness are vastly inferior to those of spiritual mercies. Bodily exercises and bodily privileges profit but little, and therefore are to be esteemed and used accordingly; the gospel teaches sobriety as well as honesty, Tit 2:12. We must be moderate in desiring and using the good things of natural life, such as meat, drink, clothes, sleep, recreations, and credit; an inordinate desire after these is inconsistent with an earnest desire after God and Christ; and those who take more of these than is due can render to neither God nor man what is due to them. 4. Add to temperance patience, which must have its perfect work, or we cannot be perfect and entire, wanting nothing (Jam 1:4), for we are born to trouble, and must through many tribulations enter into the kingdom of heaven; and it is this tribulation (Ro 5:3) which worketh patience, that is, requires the exercise and occasions the increase of this grace, whereby we bear all calamities and crosses with silence and submission, without murmuring against God or complaining of him, but justifying him who lays all affliction upon us, owning that our sufferings are less than our sins deserve, and believing they are no more than we ourselves need. 5. To patience we must add godliness, and this is the very thing which is produced by patience, for that works experience, Ro 5:4. When Christians bear afflictions patiently, they get an experimental knowledge of the loving-kindness of their heavenly Father, which he will not take from his children, even when he visits their iniquity with the rod and their transgression with stripes (Ps 89:32,33), and hereby they are brought to the child-like fear and reverential love wherein true godliness consists: to this, 6. We must add brotherly-kindness, a tender affection to all our fellow-christians, who are children of the same Father, servants of the same Master, members of the same family, travellers to the same country, and heirs of the same inheritance, and therefore are to be loved with a pure heart fervently, with a love of complacency, as those who are peculiarly near and dear to us, in whom we take particular delight, Ps 16:3. 7. Charity, or a love of good-will to all mankind, must be added to the love of delight which we have for those who are the children of God. God has made of one blood all nations, and all the children of men are partakers of the same human nature, are all capable of the same mercies, and liable to the same afflictions, and therefore, though upon a spiritual account Christians are distinguished and dignified above those who are without Christ, yet are they to sympathize with others in their calamities, and relieve their necessities, and promote their welfare both in body and soul, as they have opportunity: thus must all believers in Christ evidence that they are the children of God, who is good to all, but is especially good to Israel.
II. All the forementioned graces must be had, or we shall not be thoroughly furnished for all good works—for the duties of the first and second table, for active and passive obedience, and for those services wherein we are to imitate God as well as for those wherein we only obey him—and therefore to engage us to an industrious and unwearied pursuit of them, the apostle sets forth the advantages that redound to all who successfully labour so as to get these things to be and abound in them, 2Pe 1:8-11. These are proposed,
1. More generally, 2Pe 1:8. The having these things make not barren (or slothful) nor unfruitful, where, according to the style of the Holy Ghost, we must understand a great deal more than is expressed; for when it is said concerning Ahaz, the vilest and most provoking of all the kings of Judah, that he did not right in the sight of the Lord (2Ki 16:2), we are to understand as much as if it had been said, He did what was most offensive and abominable, as the following account of his life shows; so, when it is here said that the being and abounding of all Christian graces in us will make us neither inactive nor unfruitful, we are thereby to understand that it will make us very zealous and lively, vigorous and active, in all practical Christianity, and eminently fruitful in the works of righteousness. These will bring much glory to God, by bringing forth much fruit among men, being fruitful in knowledge, or the acknowledging of our Lord Jesus Christ, owning him to be their Lord, and evidencing themselves to be his servants by their abounding in the work that he has given them to do. This is the necessary consequence of adding one grace to another; for, where all Christian graces are in the heart, they improve and strengthen, encourage and cherish, one another; so they all thrive and grow (as the apostle intimates in the beginning of 2Pe 1:8), and wherever grace abounds there will be an abounding in good works. How desirable it is to be in such a case the apostle evidences, 2Pe 1:9. There he sets forth how miserable it is to be without those quickening fructifying graces; for he who has not the forementioned graces, or, though he pretends or seems to have them, does not exercise and improve them, is blind, that is, as to spiritual and heavenly things, as the next words explain it: He cannot see far off. This present evil world he can see, and dotes upon, but has no discerning at all of the world to come, so as to be affected with the spiritual privileges and heavenly blessings thereof. He who sees the excellences of Christianity must needs be diligent in endeavours after all those graces that are absolutely necessary for obtaining glory, honour, and immortality; but, where these graces are not obtained nor endeavoured after, men are not able to look forward to the things that are but a very little way off in reality, though in appearance, or in their apprehension, they are at a great distance, because they put them far away from them; and how wretched is their condition who are thus blind as to the awfully great things of the other world, who cannot see any thing of the reality and certainty, the greatness and nearness, of the glorious rewards God will bestow on the righteous, and the dreadful punishment he will inflict on the ungodly! But this is not all the misery of those who do not add to their faith virtue, knowledge, etc. They are as unable to look backward as forward, their memories are slippery and unable to retain what is past, as their sight is short and unable to discern what is future; they forget that they have been baptized, and had the means, and been laid under the obligations to holiness of heart and life. By baptism we are engaged in a holy war against sin, and are solemnly bound to fight against the flesh, the world, and the devil. Often call to mind, and seriously meditate on, your solemn engagement to be the Lord's, and your peculiar advantages and encouragements to lay aside all filthiness of flesh and spirit.
2. The apostle proposes two particular advantages that will attend or follow upon diligence in the work of a Christian: stability in grace, and a triumphant entrance into glory. These he brings in by resuming his former exhortation, and laying it down in other words; for what in 2Pe 1:5 is expressed by giving diligence to add to faith virtue, etc., is expressed in 2Pe 1:10 by giving diligence to make our calling and election sure. Here we may observe, (1.) It is the duty of believers to make their election sure, to clear it up to themselves that they are the chosen of God. (2.) The way to make sure their eternal election is to make out their effectual calling: none can look into the book of God's eternal counsels and decrees; but, inasmuch as whom God did predestinate those he also called, if we can find we are effectually called, we may conclude we are chosen to salvation. (3.) It requires a great deal of diligence and labour to make sure our calling and election; there must be a very close examination of ourselves, a very narrow search and strict enquiry, whether we are thoroughly converted, our minds enlightened, our wills renewed, and our whole souls changed as to the bent and inclination thereof; and to come to a fixed certainty in this requires the utmost diligence, and cannot be attained and kept without divine assistance, as we may learn from Ps 139:23, Ro 8:16. "But, how great soever the labour is, do not think much of it, for great is the advantage you gain by it; for," [1.] "By this you will be kept from falling, and that at all times and seasons, even in those hours of temptation that shall be on the earth." When others shall fall into heinous and scandalous sin, those who are thus diligent shall be enabled to walk circumspectly and keep on in the way of their duty; and, when many fall into errors, they shall be preserved sound in the faith, and stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. [2.] Those who are diligent in the work of religion shall have a triumphant entrance into glory; while of those few who get to heaven some are scarcely saved (1Pe 4:18), with a great deal of difficulty, even as by fire (1Co 3:15), those who are growing in grace, and abounding in the work of the Lord, shall have an abundant entrance into the joy of their Lord, even that everlasting kingdom where Christ reigns, and they shall reign with him for ever and ever.
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Spiritual Exertions (67 AD)
属灵的殷勤（公元67年）
¹² 你们虽然晓得这些事，并且在你们已有的真道上坚固，我还是要常常提醒你们。
¹³ 我以为应当趁我还在这帐棚的时候，提醒你们，激发你们；
¹⁴ 因为知道我脱离这帐棚的时候快到了，正如我们主耶稣基督所指示我的。
¹⁵ 并且我要尽心竭力，使你们在我去世以后时常记念这些事。
一、在恩典与圣洁上长进并坚守的益处与重要性，使使徒在作基督的执事时格外殷勤，好借此激发并帮助他们尽基督徒的本分而殷勤。若传道人在自己的工作上懈怠，就难以指望百姓在他们当尽的本分上殷勤。因此彼得「不愿懈怠」（即在任何时间、任何地点、工作的任何环节、对所牧养的任何人都毫不怠惰），而要作全然殷勤、可作榜样的人，并且是在「提醒人」这一职分上殷勤。这正是最好的传道人——连使徒自己——的职分：他们是「主的提醒者」（赛62:6），尤其有责任提说神的应许，使神记念他对百姓行善的承诺；他们也是「百姓的提醒者」，提说神的诫命，使百姓想起基督教的教义与本分，好叫他们记念神的命令而遵行。使徒正是这样做的，尽管有人或许认为这是多余的，因为他们早已知道他所写的事，也早已坚守他所论及的真理。请注意：1. 我们需要被提醒那些已经知道的事，免得忘记，也为了长进知识，并将一切化为实践。2. 我们必须在相信真道上得着坚固，免得被一切异教之风摇动；尤其是在「现今的真理」上——即在我们这个时代特别需要知道、关乎我们平安、并在我们这个时代特别遭到反对的真理。福音的重大教义——「耶稣是基督」、「耶稣基督降世为要拯救罪人」、「信主耶稣基督的人必得救」，以及「一切信神的人必须留心行善」——这些都是使徒在他们那个时代所坚持的真理；这些都是「可信的话，值得全然接受」，在基督教会每个世代都是如此。这些真理传道人必须不断地讲明（多3:8），百姓也必须在此之上得着充分的教导与坚固；然而，无论他们在知识上达到了何种程度，仍需被提醒那些既不能知道得太过清楚、也不能信得太过坚定的事。最成熟的基督徒在今生今世也不能超越圣礼与蒙恩之道的需要，不能脱离神所设立并赐下的那些途径。百姓既然在身内一日，就需要教导与劝勉；那么传道人只要还在「这帐棚」里，就理当教导、劝勉他们，把他们从前听过的真理重新带到他们面前，因为这是激发他们在福音的顺服上殷勤活泼的合宜途径。
二、使徒既然定意要作这工，便告诉我们（彼后1:14）是什么使他在此事上如此恳切——就是他所知道的，他不仅必要「脱去这帐棚」，而且不久就要如此。请注意：1. 身体不过是灵魂的帐棚。它是简陋而可移动的构造，其橛子容易拔出，绳索也易于折断。2. 这帐棚必须被脱去。我们不能在这地上的房屋中久留。正如夜里我们脱下衣服放在一旁，照样在死时我们必须脱下身体，它们要被安置在坟墓里，直到复活的清晨。3. 死的临近使使徒在人生的工作上殷勤。我们的主耶稣已经指示他离世的时候近了，因此他因时日无多而更加热心殷勤地奋发。他不久就要从他所写信的那些人中被接去；而他的心愿是让那些人在他被接去之后仍能记念他所传给他们的教义，于是他将劝勉的话付诸文字。使徒并不十分看重口传的传统。那并非达到他所追求之目标的合宜途径。他要他们常常记念这些事，不仅记在心中，也要照原文的意思「提说」这些事。「敬畏耶和华的人提说他的名，谈论他的慈爱。」这正是传播关于耶和华之知识的途径，也是使徒所切切在心的：而那些拥有神写成之道的人，因此就具备了这样做的能力。
英文原文
Spiritual Exertions (67 AD)
¹² Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.
¹³ Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;
¹⁴ Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me.
¹⁵ Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.
I. The importance and advantage of progress and perseverance in grace and holiness made the apostle to be very diligent in doing the work of a minister of Christ, that he might thereby excite and assist them to be diligent in the duty of Christians. If ministers be negligent in their work, it can hardly be expected that the people will be diligent in theirs; therefore Peter will not be negligent (that is, at no time or place, in no part of his work, to no part of his charge), but will be exemplarily and universally diligent, and that in the work of a remembrancer. This is the office of the best ministers, even the apostles themselves; they are the Lord's remembrancers (Isa 62:6); they are especially bound to make mention of the promises, and put God in mind of his engagements to do good to his people; and they are the people's remembrancers, making mention of God's precepts, and putting them in mind of the doctrines and duties of Christianity, that they may remember God's commandments, to do them. And this the apostle does, though some persons might think it needless, inasmuch as they already knew those thing that he writes about, and were established in the very truth that he insists upon. Observe, 1. We need to be put in mind of what we already know to prevent our forgetting it, and to improve our knowledge, and reduce all to practice. 2. We must be established in the belief of the truth, that we may not be shaken by every wind of doctrine, and especially in that which is the present truth, the truth more peculiarly necessary for us to know in our day, that which belongs to our peace, and which is more especially opposed in our time. The great doctrines of the gospel, that Jesus is the Christ, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, that those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved, and all that believe in God must be careful to maintain good works—these are truths the apostles insisted on in their day; these are faithful sayings, and worthy of all acceptation in every age of the Christian church. And, as these must be constantly affirmed by ministers (Tit 3:8), so the people are to be well instructed and established therein, and yet must, after all their attainments in knowledge, be put in mind of such things as cannot be too clearly known nor too firmly believed. The most advanced Christians cannot, while in this world, be above ordinances, nor beyond the need of those means which God has appointed and does afford. And, if the people need teaching and exhortation while they are in the body, it is very meet and just that ministers should, as long as they are in this tabernacle, instruct and exhort them, and bring those truths to their remembrance that they have formerly heard, this being a proper means to stir them up to be diligent and lively in a course of gospel-obedience.
II. The apostle, being set upon the work, tells us (2Pe 1:14) what makes him earnest in this matter, even the knowledge he had, not only that he must certainly, but also that he must shortly, put off this tabernacle. Observe, 1. The body is but the tabernacle of the soul. It is a mean and movable structure, whose stakes can be easily removed, and its cords presently broken. 2. This tabernacle must be put off. We are not to continue long in this earthly house. As at night we put off our clothes, and lay them by, so at death we must put off our bodies, and they musts be laid up in the grave till the morning of the resurrection. 3. The nearness of death makes the apostle diligent in the business of life. Our Lord Jesus had shown him that the time of his departure was at hand, and therefore he bestirs himself with greater zeal and diligence, because the time is short. He must soon be removed from those to whom he wrote; and his ambition being that they should remember the doctrine he had delivered to them, after he himself was taken away from them, he commits his exhortation to writing. The apostle had not any great opinion of oral tradition. This was not so proper a means to reach the end he was in pursuit of. He would have them always to remember these things, and not only to keep them in mind, but also to make mention of them, as the original words import. Those who fear the Lord make mention of his name, and talk of his loving-kindness. This is the way to spread the knowledge of the Lord and this the apostle had at heart: and those who have the written word of God are thereby put into a capacity to do this.
16-18
Evidence of the Gospel (67 AD)
福音的证据（公元67年）
¹⁶ 我们从前将我们主耶稣基督的大能和他降临的事告诉你们，并不是随从乖巧捏造的虚言，乃是亲眼见过他的威荣。
¹⁷ 他从父神得尊贵荣耀的时候，从极大荣光之中有声音出来向他说：这是我的爱子，我所喜悦的。
¹⁸ 我们同他在圣山的时候，亲自听见这声音从天上出来。
这里是发出前文劝勉、并如此殷勤郑重地发出的原因。这些事并非无稽之谈或虚妄之言，而是无可置疑的真理、关系重大。福音并不是「乖巧捏造的寓言」。这也不是被鬼附之人所说的话，更不是任何一群人出于诡诈狡黠、企图欺哄人而编造的。借着耶稣基督得救之路，至高无上地是神的旨意，是无限智慧之耶和华最卓越的设计；正是他发明了这借着耶稣基督拯救罪人的途径——福音所宣告的正是基督的大能与降临，而使徒的讲道就是将这些事表明出来。1. 福音的传讲，就是将基督的大能显明出来，表明他能拯救一切借着他到神面前来的人到底。他是全能的神，因此能救人脱离罪孽的定罪与污秽。2. 基督的降临也是借着福音的传讲而显明。人堕落之后随即被应许的那一位，要在日子满足之时为女子所生，如今已经亲自成了肉身而来；凡不认此事的，就是敌基督的（约壹4:3），是受敌基督之灵所驱使影响的；但那些作基督真正使徒和传道人、受基督之灵引导指引的人，却显明基督确已照着应许来到——旧约众圣徒都是存着信这个应许而死（来11:39）。基督是成了肉身来的。因为他所要拯救的人「既然同有血肉之体，他也照样亲自成了血肉之体」，好在他所取的本性中替他们受苦，借此成就赎罪。基督这第一次降临，福音讲得清楚详细；但还有第二次降临，福音也一并提及，这同样是福音的执事应当讲明的——那时他要在父的荣耀里同众圣天使降临，因为他已被立定作活人死人的审判者。他要借永远的福音按公义审判世界，并召我们众人对在身内所行的一切，无论善恶，都一一交账。3. 尽管基督这福音被那些自称「彼得继承人」的败类中有人亵渎地称为「寓言」，然而我们的使徒证明它具有最大的确定性与真实性，因为当我们蒙福的救主在地上寄居之时——他虽然取了仆人的形像，有了人的样子——他有时彰显自己为神；尤其向我们的使徒和西庇太的两个儿子如此彰显，他们「亲眼见过他的威荣，当他在他们面前变了形像，脸面明亮如日头，衣裳洁白如光，极其洁白，如雪一般，地上漂布的没有一个能漂得那样白」。彼得、雅各、约翰亲眼见过这事，因此能够也应当为此作见证；他们为亲眼所见、亲耳所闻之事作见证，他们的见证当然是真实的：因为基督在地上所得的可见荣耀之外，还有从天上来可听见的声音。在此请注意：(1) 所宣告的话是何等恩慈：「这是我的爱子，我所喜悦的」——这是从天到地最好的声音；神喜悦基督，也在基督里喜悦我们。这就是所应许的弥赛亚，借着他，一切信他的人都必蒙悦纳、得拯救。(2) 这宣告是父神所作的，他这样公开地承认自己的儿子（甚至在他降卑的状态中、取了仆人的形像时），宣告他是自己的爱子，纵然他处于如此卑微的境地；基督卑微贫寒的处境丝毫未减父对他的爱，反而他舍命被视为父爱他的一个特别理由（约10:17）。(3) 这声音的用意，是要在我们救主还在地上时格外尊崇他：「他从父神得尊贵荣耀」。这是神所乐意尊崇的人。他既要我们承认他的儿子是我们的救主而将尊贵荣耀归给儿子，照样他也宣告救主为他的儿子，将荣耀尊贵归给我们的救主。(4) 这声音从天上来，此处称为「极大荣光」，这更使我们的救主得着极大的荣耀。这宣告出自那作为尊荣之源的神，出自那作为荣耀之所的天——在那里神最荣耀地临在。(5) 这声音被彼得、雅各、约翰听见，并且听见得能明白其意。他们不只是听见一个响声（如众人那样，约12:28、29），而是明白了其中的意思。神开通他百姓的耳朵与悟性，去领受他们当知道的事，而别的人则像保罗的同伴那样，只听见言语的响声（徒9:7），却不明白其中的意思，因此说他们没有听见那说话者的声音（徒22:9）。那些不仅听见而且明白、相信真理、感受到天上声音之大能的人有福了，正如那为这些事作见证的人一样；我们有最充足的理由接受他的见证；因为这样详细记述的「从天上来的声音」，谁还会拒绝相信呢——使徒告诉我们，(6) 他们「在圣山」与耶稣同在时听见了这声音。神在其中赐下特别恩典彰显的所在，因此就被称为圣——不是本身内蕴的圣，而是如神向摩西显现的那块地（出3:5）、建圣殿的那座山（诗87:1）为圣一样。这些地方是相对的圣，当人在其中亲身经历，或凭神话语的权柄存信期待圣洁荣耀之神的特别同在与恩典运行时，就当视为圣地。
英文原文
Evidence of the Gospel (67 AD)
¹⁶ For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
¹⁷ For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
¹⁸ And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
Here we have the reason of giving the foregoing exhortation, and that with so much diligence and seriousness. These things are not idle tales, or a vain thing, but of undoubted truth and vast concern. The gospel is not a cunningly devised fable. These are not the words of one who hath a devil, nor the contrivance of any number of men who by cunning craftiness endeavour to deceive. The way of salvation by Jesus Christ is eminently the counsel of God, the most excellent contrivance of the infinitely wise Jehovah; it was he that invented this way of saving sinners by Jesus Christ, whose power and coming are set forth in the gospel, and the apostle's preaching was a making of these things known. 1. The preaching of the gospel is a making known the power of Christ, that he is able to save to the uttermost all who come to God by him. He is the mighty God, and therefore can save from both the guilt and the filth of sin. 2. The coming of Christ also is make known by the preaching of the gospel. He who was promised immediately after the fall of man, as in the fulness of time to be born of a woman, has now come in the flesh; and whosoever denies this is an antichrist (1Jo 4:3), he is actuated and influenced by the spirit of anti-christ; but those who are the true apostles and ministers of Christ, and are directed and guided by the Spirit of Christ, evidence that Christ has come according to the promise which all the Old-Testament believers died in the faith of, Heb 11:39. Christ has come in the flesh. Inasmuch as those whom he undertakes to save are partakers of flesh and blood, he himself also took part of the same, that he might suffer in their nature and stead, and thereby make an atonement. This coming of Christ the gospel is very plain and circumstantial in setting forth; but there is a second coming, which it likewise mentions, which the ministers of the gospel ought also to make known, when he shall come in the glory of his Father with all his holy angels, for he is appointed to be Judge both of quick and dead. He will come to judge the world in righteousness by the everlasting gospel, and call us all to give account of all things done in the body, whether good or evil. 3. And though this gospel of Christ has been blasphemously called a fable by one of those wretches who call themselves the successors of St. Peter, yet our apostle proves that it is of the greatest certainty and reality, inasmuch as during our blessed Saviour's abode here on earth, when he took on him the form of a servant and was found in fashion as a man, he sometimes manifested himself to be God, and particularly to our apostle and the two sons of Zebedee, who were eye-witnesses of his divine majesty, when he was transfigured before them, and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light, exceedingly white, as snow, so as no fuller on earth can whiten them. This Peter, James, and John, were eye-witnesses of, and therefore might and ought to attest; and surely their testimony is true, when they witness what they have seen with their eyes, yea, and heard with their ears: for, besides the visible glory that Christ was invested with here on earth, there was an audible voice from heaven. Here observe, (1.) What a gracious declaration was made: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased—the best voice that ever came from heaven to earth; God is well pleased with Christ, and with us in him. This is the Messiah who was promised, through whom all who believe in him shall be accepted and saved. (2.) This declaration is made by God the Father, who thus publicly owns his Son (even in his state of humiliation, when he was in the form of a servant), yea, proclaims him to be his beloved Son, when he is in that low condition; yea, so far are Christ's mean and low circumstances from abating the love of the Father to him that his laying down his life is said to be one special reason of the Father's love, Joh 10:17. (3.) The design of this voice was to do our Saviour a singular humour while he was here below: He received honour and glory from God the Father. This is the person whom God delights to honour. As he requires us to give honour and glory to his Son by confessing him to be our Saviour, so does he give glory and honour to our Saviour by declaring him to be his Son. (4.) This voice is from heaven, called here the excellent glory, which still reflects a greater glory upon our blessed Saviour. This declaration is from God the fountain of honour, and from heaven the seat of glory, where God is most gloriously present. (5.) This voice was heard, and that so as to be understood, by Peter, James, and John. They not only heard a sound (as the people did, Joh 12:28,29), but they understood the sense. God opens the ears and understandings of his people to receive what they are concerned to know, when others are like Paul's companions, who only heard a sound of words (Ac 9:7), but understood not the meaning thereof, and therefore are said not to hear the voice of him that spoke, Ac 22:9. Blessed are those who not only hear, but understand, who believe the truth, and feel the power of the voice from heaven, as he did who testifieth these things: and we have all the reason in the world to receive his testimony; for who would refuse to give credit to what is so circumstantially laid down as this account of the voice from heaven, of which the apostle tells us, (6.) It was heard by them in the holy mount, when they were with Jesus? The place wherein God affords any peculiarly gracious manifestation of himself is thereby made holy, not with an inherent holiness, but as the ground was holy where God appeared to Moses (Ex 3:5), and the mountain holy on which the temple was built, Ps 87:1. Such places are relatively holy, and to be regarded as such during the time that men in themselves experience, or may, by warrant from the word, believingly expect, the special presence and gracious influence of the holy and glorious God.
19-21
Inspiration of the Scriptures (67 AD)
圣经的灵感（公元67年）
¹⁹ 我们并有先知更确的预言，如同灯照在暗处；你们在这预言上留意，直等到天发亮，晨星在你们心里出现的时候，才是好的。
²⁰ 第一要紧的，该知道经上所有的预言没有可随私意解说的；
²¹ 因为预言从来没有出于人意的，乃是人被圣灵感动，说出神的话来。
在这些话中，使徒提出另一个论证，证明福音的真实与确实，并暗示这第二个证据比前一个更有力、更令人信服，更无可辩驳地证明：我们主耶稣基督的大能与降临之教义并非人的虚构或乖巧编造，乃是圣洁恩慈之神智慧奇妙的旨意。因为这是由旧约的众先知和执笔者在神的灵感动并指引之下所说所写的。在此请注意：
一、对旧约圣经所作的描述：它被称为「先知更确的预言」。1. 这是关于我们救主的大能与降临、他的神性与道成肉身的预言性宣告，记在旧约之中。旧约预言「女人的后裔要伤蛇的头」；他毁坏魔鬼及其作为的大能、他为女子所生，都在旧约中预先宣告；旧约中神那重大可畏的名——「耶和华」（有人如此读）——其意不过是「他是」；而神那名（出3:14）多人译作「我是我所是」；如此理解，便指向神为救赎拯救他的百姓而成为肉身一事是「将来的」。但新约正是旧约所预言之事的历史。「众先知和律法说预言，到约翰为止」（太11:13）。福音书作者和使徒所写的，正是从前以预言所传之事的历史。旧约之被新约应验、新约之与旧约相合，正是两者真理的充分明证。当以旧约为关于基督的预言来读，并殷勤感恩地以新约为旧约最好的解释来使用。2.「旧约是更确的预言」。对那些领受它为神之圣言的犹太人而言确实如此。后来的先知印证了先前先知所传的，这些预言是奉明确的命令写下的，是在神特别的看顾下保存的，其中许多是借着神奇妙的护理应验的，因此对于那些一直领受并诵读圣经的人而言，比使徒所讲的关于天上声音之事更为确实。「摩西和先知」比神迹本身更有力地劝服人（路16:31）。我们既有如此坚固确实的道可依，我们的信心当何等坚定稳固！旧约一切的预言，对于已经看到其最精确详细应验之历史的我们而言，更加确实。
二、使徒给我们的鼓励，要我们查考圣经。他告诉我们，「我们若在这些预言上留意，才是好的」；就是用心思去明白这确言之意，用内心去相信其中的真理，并且倾心于它，使我们被它塑造模成。这道是我们当被浇入其中的「道理的模范」（罗6:17），是我们当用以规范自己思想情感、言语认信、整个生活为人的「知识之模范」（罗2:20）。我们若这样专心于神的话，在各样事上确是行得好——既讨神喜悦，又于自己有益；这其实不过是尽我们对神的圣言所当尽的本分而已。但为要这样留意这道，使徒提出几件事，对于那些想在圣经上得到益处的人特别有用。1. 他们当把圣经当作神所差来、设立在世上的光，为要驱散全地面上蒙蔽的黑暗。神的话对那些正确使用之人，「是我脚前的灯」；它显明人当走的路；借此我们得知生命之路。2. 他们当承认自己的黑暗。这世界是错谬无知之地，世上每个人天然就缺乏为得永生所必需的知识。3. 人若能得着智慧以致得救，乃是借神的话照入他们心中。堕落之人对神的天然观念并不足够；他实际所知道的远不及亚当在无罪时所用知道的，却绝对需要比亚当知道更多。4. 当神的话之光借神的圣灵射入盲目的心思与暗昧的悟性之中，那时「属灵的白昼破晓，晨星在那人心里出现」。这照亮一个黑暗蒙昧心思的工作，如同破晓之光，渐渐增强前进，扩散充满整个心灵，直到成为完美的白昼（箴4:18）。这是一种不断增长的知识；这样被光照的人绝不以为自己知道够了，直到「全知道，如同主知道我一样」。留意这道，必是众人的利益与本分；凡行真理的人，都必来到这光中，而行恶的人却远远躲避。
三、使徒提出一件事，作为我们留意圣经并从中得益所必须先知道的，那就是：一切预言都出于神。这一重要真理，他不仅宣告，而且加以证明。1. 请注意：经上的预言没有可随「私意解说」的（或作「人自己私有的意见」，即对自己心思的解释），而是神心意的启示。这正是主的先知与世上假先知的分别。主的先知不凭自己的心意说话行事，正如他们之中为首的摩西明说（民16:28）：「我行的这一切事（所传的一切律例典章）本不是凭我自己心意行的。」但假先知「随己心发预言，不是出于耶和华的口」（耶23:16）。圣经的先知和执笔者所写所说的是神的心意；虽然他们在圣灵感动引导之下，我们可以推想他们甘愿启示并记录这些事，但这是因为神要他们如此说如此写。虽然圣经不是人私意或倾向的倾吐，而是神心意与旨意的启示，但每个普通人都当查考它，进而明白其中的意义。2. 圣经出于神（其中所载的是神的心意而非人的心意）这一重要真理，是凡要留意这确凿预言之人都当知道并承认的。圣经是神之道，不仅是真基督徒信仰的一个条款，也是一门学问或知识。正如人不仅相信，而且确切知道——他在某人身上看见朋友一切本来、特有、分辨性的标记与特征，就认定那人正是他的挚友；照样，基督徒看见一本书上有一切属神灵感之书当有的标记与特征，就知道那本书是神之道。他在其中尝到甘甜，感受到大能，看见荣耀，确是属神的。3. 圣经的神性必须首先被认识并承认，人才能有益地使用它，才能好好留意它。要使我们的心思从一切其他著作中转离，特别地专注于这些作为唯一确实无误之准则的书上，必然需要我们完全确信这些是出于神灵感的，所载的实在是神的心意与旨意。
四、既然人完全确信圣经出于神是如此绝对必要，使徒（彼后1:21）就告诉我们旧约是如何编纂而成的。1. 否定方面：「预言从来没有出于人意的」。无论是所记载、构成旧约各部分的事本身，都不是人的意见；任何先知或圣经执笔者的意愿，也不是书写圣经正典中任何内容的规则或原因。2. 肯定方面：「人被圣灵感动，说出神的话来」。请注意：(1) 在那本我们领受为神之道的书上所使用的，是「属神的人」。巴兰、该亚法以及其他没有圣洁的人，纵然在某些场合偶有预言之灵，这样的人却不被用来为神的教会写下圣经的任何部分。圣经所有的执笔者都是属神的人。(2) 这些属神的人在传讲神的心意旨意时，「被圣灵感动」。[1] 圣灵默示并将他们当传的神之心意指示给他们。[2] 他有力地激发并有效地促使他们说出（并写下）他所放在他们口中的话。[3] 他在他们传讲所领受之事上如此智慧谨慎地帮助引导他们，使他们有效地免于在表达所启示的事上有丝毫错谬；因此圣经的字句当被视为圣灵的字句，其中一切的明白简洁、一切的大能功效、一切的优美妥贴，都当被我们视为出于神。所以当以信心与你在圣经中所发现的调和；当尊重敬重你的圣经，视之为属神之人受圣灵默示、感动、帮助所写成的书。
英文原文
Inspiration of the Scriptures (67 AD)
¹⁹ We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
²⁰ Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
²¹ For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
In these words the apostle lays down another argument to prove the truth and reality of the gospel, and intimates that this second proof is more strong and convincing than the former, and more unanswerably makes out that the doctrine of the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is not a mere fable or cunning contrivance of men, but the wise and wonderful counsel of the holy and gracious God. For this is foretold by the prophets and penmen of the Old Testament, who spoke and wrote under the influence and according to the direction of the Spirit of God. Here note,
I. The description that is given of the scriptures of the Old Testament: they are called a more sure word of prophecy. 1. It is a prophetical declaration of the power and coming, the Godhead and incarnation, of our Saviour, which we have in the Old Testament. It is there foretold that the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head. His power to destroy the devil and his works, and his being made of a woman, are there foretold; and the great and awful Old Testament name of God, Jehovah (as read by some), signifies only He will be; and that name of God (Ex 3:14) is rendered by many, I will be that I will be; and, thus understood, they point at God's being incarnate in order to the redemption and salvation of his people as what was to come. But the New Testament is a history of that whereof the Old Testament is a prophecy. All the prophets and the law prophesied until John, Mt 11:13. And the evangelists and the apostles have written the history of what was before delivered as prophecy. Now the accomplishment of the Old Testament by the New, and the agreeableness of the New Testament to the Old, are a full demonstration of the truth of both. Read the Old Testament as a prophecy of Christ, and with diligence and thankfulness use the New as the best exposition of the Old. 2. The Old Testament is a more sure word of prophecy. It is so to the Jews who received it as the oracles of God. Following prophets confirmed what had been delivered by those who went before, and these prophecies had been written by the express command, and preserved by the special care, and many of them fulfilled by the wonderful providence of God, and therefore were more certain to those who had all along received and read the scriptures than the apostle's account of this voice from heaven. Moses and the prophets more powerfully persuade than even miracles themselves, Lu 16:31. How firm and sure should our faith be, who have such a firm and sure word to rest upon! All the prophecies of the Old Testament are more sure and certain to us who have the history of the most exact and minute accomplishment of them.
II. The encouragement the apostle gives us to search the scriptures. He tells us, We do well if we take heed to them; that is, apply our minds to understand the sense, and our hearts to believe the truth, of this sure word, yea, bend ourselves to it, that we may be moulded and fashioned by it. The word is that form of doctrine into which we must be cast (Ro 6:17), that formulary of knowledge (Ro 2:20) by which we are to regulate our thoughts and sentiments, our words and confessions, our whole life and conversation. If we thus apply ourselves to the word of God, we certainly do well in all respects, what is pleasing to God and profitable to ourselves; and this indeed is but paying that regard which is due to the oracles of God. But, in order to this giving heed to the word, the apostle suggests some things that are of singular use to those who would attend to the scriptures to any good purpose. 1. They must account and use the scripture as a light which God hath sent into and set up in the world, to dispel that darkness which is upon the face of the whole earth. The word is a lamp to the feet of those who use it aright; this discovers the way wherein men ought to walk; this is the means whereby we come to know the way of life. 2. They must acknowledge their own darkness. This world is a place of error and ignorance, and every man in the world is naturally without that knowledge which is necessary in order to attain eternal life. 3. If ever men are made wise to salvation, it is by the shining of the word of God into their hearts. Natural notions of God are not sufficient for fallen man, who does at best actually know a great deal less, and yet does absolutely need to know a great deal more, of God than Adam did while he continued innocent. 4. When the light of the scripture is darted into the blind mind and dark understanding by the Holy Spirit of God, then the spiritual day dawns and the day-star arises in that soul. This enlightening of a dark benighted mind is like the day-break that improves and advances, spreads and diffuses itself through the whole soul, till it makes perfect day, Pr 4:18. It is a growing knowledge; those who are this way enlightened never think they know enough, till they come to know as they are known. To give heed to this light must needs be the interest and duty of all; and all who do truth come to this light, while evil-doers keep at a distance from it.
III. The apostle lays down one thing as previously necessary in order to our giving heed to, and getting good by, the scriptures, and that is the knowing that all prophecy is of divine origin. Now this important truth he not only asserts, but proves. 1. Observe, No scripture prophecy is of private interpretation (or a man's own proper opinion, an explication of his own mind), but the revelation of the mind of God. This was the difference between the prophets of the Lord and the false prophets who have been in the world. The prophets of the Lord did not speak nor do any thing of their own mind, as Moses, the chief of them, says expressly (Nu 16:28), I have not done any of the works (nor delivered any of the statutes and ordinances) of my own mind. But false prophets speak a vision of their own heart, not out of the mouth of the Lord, Jer 23:16. The prophets and penmen of the scripture spoke and wrote what was the mind of God; and though, when under the influence and guidance of the Spirit, it may well be supposed that they were willing to reveal and record such thing, yet it is because God would have them spoken and written. But though the scripture be not the effusion of man's own private opinion or inclination, but the revelation of the mind and will of God, yet every private man ought to search it, and come to understand the sense and meaning thereof. 2. This important truth of the divine origin of the scriptures (that what is contained in them is the mind of God and not of man) is to be known and owned by all who will give heed to the sure word of prophecy. That the scriptures are the word of God is not only an article of the true Christian's faith, but also a matter of science or knowledge. As a man not barely believes, but knows assuredly that that very person is his particular friend in whom he sees all the proper, peculiar, distinguishing marks and characters of his friend, so the Christian knows that book to be the word of God in and upon which he sees all the proper marks and characters of a divinely inspired book. He tastes a sweetness, and feels a power, and sees a glory, in it truly divine. 3. The divinity of the scriptures must be known and acknowledged in the first place, before men can profitably use them, before they can give good heed to them. To call off our minds from all other writings, and apply them in a peculiar manner to these as the only certain and infallible rule, necessarily requires our being fully persuaded that these are divinely inspired, and contain what is truly the mind and will of God.
IV. Seeing it is so absolutely necessary that persons be fully persuaded of the scripture's divine origin, the apostle (2Pe 1:21) tells us how the Old Testament came to be compiled, and that, 1. Negatively: It came not by the will of man. Neither the things themselves that are recorded, and make up the several parts of the Old Testament, are the opinions of men, nor was the will of any of the prophets or penmen of the scriptures the rule or reason why any of those things were written which make up the canon of the scripture. 2. Affirmatively: Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Observe, (1.) They were holy men of God who were employed about that book which we receive as the word of God. If Balaam and Caiaphas, and others who were destitute of holiness, had any thing of the spirit of prophecy, upon occasion, yet such persons were not employed to write any part of the scriptures for the use of the church of God. All the penmen of the scriptures were holy men of God. (2.) These holy men were moved by the Holy Ghost in what they delivered as the mind and will of God. The Holy Ghost is the supreme agent, the holy men are but instruments. [1.] The Holy Ghost inspired and dictated to them what they were to deliver of the mind of God. [2.] He powerfully excited and effectually engaged them to speak (and write) what he had put into their mouths. [3.] He so wisely and carefully assisted and directed them in the delivery of what they had received from him that they were effectually secured from any the least mistake in expressing what they revealed; so that the very words of scripture are to be accounted the words of the Holy Ghost, and all the plainness and simplicity, all the power and virtue, all the elegance and propriety, of the very words and expressions are to be regarded by us as proceeding from God. Mix faith therefore with what you find in the scriptures; esteem and reverence your Bible as a book written by holy men, inspired, influenced, and assisted by the Holy Ghost.
在本章中我们看到：一、一段引言或序言，为使徒主要的目的铺路并引向它（彼后1:1-4）。二、一项劝勉，要在一切基督徒的恩典上长进和进步（彼后1:5-7）。三、为加强这劝勉、使他们认真恳切地遵行，他加上：1. 一幅他们因此将要得着之极大益处的图画（彼后1:8-11）。2. 一个使徒所能给予之最佳帮助的应许，以促成并推进这善工（彼后1:12-15）。3. 一项宣告，说明基督福音的确实真理与神圣来源——他们正是在其恩典中受劝要长进并恒忍。